The Invisible Woman?
I got an email with a link to this video. The person said “a beautiful reminder”.
I’m really troubled by this video.
Her Correlation
Nicole Johnson is clearly a very good speaker. She’s got great charisma and stage presence. And, that’s the problem in this particular video.
I don’t know about her other speeches, but this speech is deceptive. Brilliantly crafted, but deceptive.
She draws a correlation between 2 things that are very different from each other.
| Scenario #1 | Scenario #2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Making requests (turn off the TV, leave the party) |
 |
Building a cathedral |
According to her analogy, is the family and the husband suppose to be the cathedral that women are building for God? Is that the correlation? If so, then isn’t she implying that the outcome is solely the woman’s responsibility, since cathedrals can’t build themselves?
Now, you could argue that her message is you should do things for God, not for men.
That would be better message, but that’s not how she framed the speech. The title of the speech is The Invisible Woman. All of her examples are about being invisible to her family. She clearly is a good speech writer, so I have to assume that she chose this specific frame of being invisible to your family.
Her Application
Her application is even more disturbing.
| Scenario #1 | Scenario #2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Wanting people to hear your requests (turn off the TV and leave the party)
= Self-centeredness, selfishness |
 |
Wanting credit for building the cathedral
= Self-centeredness, selfishness |
As she says:
At times my invisibility has felt like an affliction to me. But, it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my own pride.
Thus, she concludes that her wanting to be visible to her family stems from her self-centeredness. Her invisibility is God’s antidote for her pride. Her family is ignoring her is God teaching her a lesson. That’s quite a misogynist conclusion.
So if a woman complains about being ignored by her family, Nicole’s answer is “Stop complaining. You’re too self-centered.”
I’m shocked by her message.
Her Own Invisibility
I find it highly ironic that Nicole is front and center, on a brightly lit stage talking about the invisible woman.
Perhaps, this speech was written by some nameless woman who didn’t get credited, and Nicole is just the deliverer of the speech. That would be brilliant.
